Sunday, 28 November 2010

Using symbols

This morning, my 4-year-old came to me and showed me a piece of paper on which he had written
11511510
He read it to me as "equal 5 and equal 5 equal 10"
He had written his 'equals' sign on its side so it looked like 11.
I asked him if he would like me to show him how to write 5 and 5 equals 10, and he said yes so I wrote it out and he looked at it. Then I wrote 1+1= and he said 2, so we wrote 2.
He then took the piece of paper and began writing out his own sums in the same format:
2+2=4
3+3=6
4+5=9 etc....etc.
I was fascinated by his curiosity and diligence to this task, intrinsically motivated. It is so interesting how he pushes himself onwards in his learning, and is so naturally interested in all he learns.

NB: Some of his numbers were written back-to-front, but this is not a concern to me at this time. He is left-handed and sometimes will write in 'mirror writing'.

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Reluctant Radical

Home education - home based learning - is unusual in the U.K. I feel like a reluctant radical, yet it continues to be a liberating journey, despite the frustrations and misunderstanding. Learn more about our journey towards a more autonomous education here. My husband and I live in the West Midlands. We have home educated our 4 sons (2 are now at college, 2 continue to learn from home). I informally research education outside of school, and he works as a freelance teacher.

I offer workshops on Mentoring Self-Directed Learners, and am willing and able to speak on the subject of autonomous learning. If you would like more information, please contact me to discuss your requirements.

"Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupi...

Quotes to Inspire

"We shall never learn to feel and respect our real calling and destiny, unless we have learned to consider everything as moonshine, compared with the education of the heart." (Scott)

"There are two aspects of providing occasions for wonderful ideas. One is being prepared to accept children's ideas. The other is providing a setting which suggests wonderful ideas to children." (Eleanor Duckworth)

"A child's curiosity and desire to do things himself are the definition of his capacity to learn without sacrificing any part of his whole development. Guidance can only heighten certain abilities at the expense of others, but nothing can heighten the full spectrum of his capabilities beyond its in-built limits. The price a child pays for being guided into what other think best for him (or themselves) is the diminution of his wholeness." (Jean Liedloff)

"What does education often do? It makes a straight-cut ditch of a free, meandering brook." (Henry David Thoreau)

"If you are not free to choose wrongly and irresponsibly, you are not free at all." (Jacob Hornberger)

"The primary goal is joyful living. All other goals are secondary. If meeting a goal means sacrificing joy, then find a better way to meet the goal." (Joyce Fetteroll)

“Train up a child in the way he should go — but be sure you go that way yourself.” (Charles Spurgeon)

"Everything big that occurred in the world occurred in someone's imagination." (Astrid Lindgren)

"The objective of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives." (Robert Maynard Hutchins)

"The homemaker has the ultimate career. All other careers exist for one purpose only, and that is to support the ultimate career." (C.S. Lewis)

"In all of life, have much fun and laughter. Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured." (Gordon B. Hinckley)

"My hope and wish is that one day, formal education will pay attention to what I call 'education of the heart.' Just as we take for granted the need to acquire proficiency in the basic academic subjects, I am hopeful that a time will come when we can take it for granted that children will learn, as part of the curriculum, the indispensability of inner values: love, compassion, justice and forgiveness." (The Dalai Lama)

"Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid." (Albert Einstein)

"Many things we need can wait. The child cannot. Now is the time his bones are formed, his mind developed. To him we cannot say tomorrow, his name is today." (Gabriela Mistral)

"Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life." (Charlotte Mason)

We want our children to feel that each fresh lesson gives them an 'open sesame' to a fairy palace full of treasures worth the seeking; that they are the inheritors of all the heaped-up gains of past ages, not slaves doomed to a treadmill of weary monotony." (Kathleen Warren, 1903)

"The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled." (Plutarch)

"The aim of education should be to teach us rather how to think than what to think." (Bill Beattie)

"Tell me - I will forget. Show me - I may remember. Be with me - I will understand." (Tibetan Proverb)

"The world is not lacking in wonders but in a sense of wonder." (G.K. Chesterton)

"Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it." (Wolfram Van Goethe)

"Wisdom begins with wonder." (Socrates)

“The wider the range of possibilities we offer children, the more intense will be their motivation and the richer their experiences.” (Loris Malaguzzi)